


Ridiculously So

by kingdra (aroceu)



Category: f(x)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Community: femmebigbang, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-09
Updated: 2012-11-09
Packaged: 2017-11-18 07:33:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/558460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aroceu/pseuds/kingdra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luna tells Krystal that she likes her, and then Krystal starts vying for her attention.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ridiculously So

**Author's Note:**

> Much thanks to Christie for editing and Ginny for helping to inspire me ♥

“Um,” said the girl, teetering in front of her. “Uh. Hi.”

Krystal noticed that the girl had blond hair. Which was not important right now, but not very many Asians had blond hair and maybe for anyone else Krystal would’ve though it wouldn’t work, but on this girl, it looked quite nice.

The girl had a round face and large, nervous eyes. She was pushed forward a little more, and Krystal noticed two girls behind her, giggling and watching, whispering to each other.

“Do you want something?” Krystal asked the girl, and as kindly as she could. Even though this was in front of her friends and she couldn’t risk looking like a loser in front of them. Not to mention that she was being wasted precious time from her eating.

The girl fidgeted and rubbed her knuckles together and Krystal couldn’t help thinking,  _poor girl_. The girl was cute, Krystal thought—in a platonic way, of course. Krystal thought that she looked familiar, although she couldn’t quite remember where. With over a thousand kids in their high school, it was impossible to remember them all, anyways. This girl with her blond hair should’ve stood out more, though, and Krystal wondered where she’d seen her before, how she knew her.

“I—” said the girl. She bit her lip. “I like—” she said, and then turned around once to look at her friends.

Krystal couldn’t deduce whether the girl was glaring at her friends or not, but decided that that was beside the matter. “Yes?” she asked, raising a single eyebrow.

“I,” said the girl, turning back to her. She seemed conscious of her friends behind her, though, by the way she brought her hands tightly behind her back. “I, um. Ilikeyou,” she said, and then sped off.

Krystal blinked. Oh. Maybe she’d brought her hands behind her back so she could escape as soon as possible.

The awkward part about this was that her boyfriend was sitting next to her, with his arm wrapped around her. She was quite happy being with him, too. He asked her, when the girl had left, “What was that all about?”

“I don’t know,” said Krystal, shrugging, and putting the situation out of her mind. All right, so that girl liked her. Didn’t mean much to her, really. She smiled and leaned her head against her boyfriend, who was the captain of the soccer team. “Feed me,” she told her boyfriend, and her boyfriend, smiling, obliged.

-

Math was two periods after lunch and that was when Krystal saw the girl again. The girl was talking to one of her friends, a girl who had short black hair. Krystal came up to her and said, “Oh, I didn’t know you were in my class.”

The girl turned around and her eyes went wide; her friend behind her was stifling a giggle. “Um,” said the girl, shyly averting her gaze. “Yeah.”

“You knew? Oh, I guess if you,” said Krystal, and finished in her mind  _if you like me you’d know_  but decided that that would be a little bit of an insensitive thing to say. Instead she said, “Never mind,” and then, “Can I sit next to you?”

“Um, sure,” said the girl, and she sat at her desk and Krystal sat next to her.

“By the way,” said Krystal, turning to her. The girl looked startled at Krystal talking to her again. Perhaps Krystal had sounded a bit overdramatic. “What’s your name, anyways?”

“Oh!” said the girl. “Um, Luna. I’m Luna.” She gave a small smile, and the friend behind her couldn’t hold it in anymore—she laughed.

“Amber, hush!” said Luna, and the short-haired girl—Amber—giggled and said, “I can’t help it.” She whispered something into Luna’s ear and Luna turned pink and pushed her away.

“Ignore Amber, she’s an idiot,” Luna said to her. Krystal glanced at Amber and Amber gave her a wave. Krystal nodded back.

“Um,” said Luna. “So, do you like this class?”

“Do I like  _any_  class?” Krystal rolled her eyes. “Well it’s not bad—not bad like  _Korean_ , eugh—I guess it’s bearable.”

“Yeah.” Luna was nodded, and then suddenly stopped and just said, “Same.” She rocked back and forth in her chair, sat on her hands.

“I’m not that good at math, though,” Krystal continued. “Sometimes I gotta get my sister to help me.”

“Oh,” said Luna, and Amber, from behind her, said, “Luna’s great at math!” Then she collapsed on her desk and was laughing again.

Luna glared at Amber. “I’m  _not_ ,” she said, to Krystal again. “I kinda suck, actually.”

“We can suck at math together then,” Krystal said cheerfully.

Luna turned pink then and Amber was kind of rolling around at her desk, and Krystal wasn’t minding at all, at making new friends.

-

Life progressed as it did and Krystal started seeing Luna more: well, perhaps not seeing, but noticing. The thing that came with starting to know someone was that you began to see them everywhere and wondered why you hadn’t noticed them before.

It was high school, though, and so Krystal was usually with her boyfriend and she and Luna saw each other and smiled. Well, unless she was with her other friends too, Amber and that-other-one, because then Amber and that-other-one would often poke Luna or something and Luna would blush and glare at them.

Krystal thought it was kind of endearing.

On their way to English, which was required for all students to take as a second language, after waving hello to Luna, Sulli asked her, “Who was that?”

“Oh, my friend,” said Krystal. “Remember the awkward girl who came up to me at lunch that one time?”

“Oh, right,” said Sulli. “That was her?”

“I didn’t know you became friends with her,” remarked Krystal’s boyfriend.

Krystal shrugged, still with his arms around her. “Yeah, why not?” she said. “They’re pretty cool, I guess.” No one had done her any wrong, anyways.

“Aren’t they like, really into band and music and stuff?” said Sulli.

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing,” said Sulli, putting her hands up. “I was just wondering. I’d totally be into it too, except I think our school’s music program sucks.”

“Yeah, well,” said Krystal, and couldn’t really argue with that because she thought so too.

In math that day Krystal asked Luna (and, well, Amber as well), “What do you guys think of the music program?”

“Our teacher sucks but we’re crazy talented,” said Amber. “Especially this girl right here.” She clapped Luna on the back.

Luna blushed and shoved her friend off. “Stop it, Amber.”

“No, seriously, she is.” Amber put an arm on Luna’s shoulders and Luna looked uncomfortable and Krystal was smiling. “You should hear this girl belt out a high note. Or, in fact, any fucking note. Seriously. She’s amazing.”

“Amber,  _stop_. You’re ridiculous,” said Luna, pushing her off for the second time.

“Are you really that good?” asked Krystal, with her eyebrows raised.

“No, don’t listen to her—”

“Dude, have you heard a thing that I just said? Duh,” interrupted Amber.

Krystal grinned. “Maybe I should drop by one of the choir practices to listen,” she said.

“Oh, no, I don’t have any solos or anything,” said Luna. “The school year just started—”

“Yeah, but you had solos last year. And the year before. And the year before. And you’re gonna have more this year,” said Amber.

Luna leaned over to Krystal. “Don’t listen to a word she says,” she said, indicating Amber. “She’s a filthy liar.”

Krystal chuckled and said, “Okay,” but felt that there was some truth to Amber’s words.

-

That evening, she attempted to look up past high school choir concert videos online, but couldn’t find any. Their school didn’t allow concerts to be performed to the actual students due to a prank gone wrong several years ago. If Luna’s voice was really all that, Krystal did kind of want to hear it.

A thought struck her and she decided to go to Facebook instead. She wasn’t quite sure if Luna actually had any videos of her singing, but decided that it wouldn’t hurt to try.

Krystal requested to be Luna’s friend, and almost a minute later got an acceptance notification. Krystal went through Luna’s videos, and videos of her, but there wasn’t much aside from random birthday videos and a video of Amber and that-other-girl (Krystal should really learn her name) dancing.

She decided to message Luna, for lack of anything better to do.

 **Krystal Jung (20:18):**  hey  
**Krystal Jung (20:18):**  what’s up?  
**Luna Park (20:20):**  oh hi ^^ nothing much!  
**Krystal Jung (20:20):** okay  
**Luna Park (20:20):**  how bout u? :D  
**Krystal Jung (20:20):** eh, bored. avoiding homework.  
**Luna Park (20:21):** yeah, i know what u mean >< hmwrk sucks  
**Luna Park (20:21):**  lol  
**Krystal Jung (20:21):** lol?  
**Luna Park (20:21):**  yeah idk what else to say >< srry

Weirdly, Krystal was finding herself smiling at this. Luna was too cute online, honestly.

 **Krystal Jung (20:22):**  well i guess i’ll be going now  
**Luna Park (20:22):** o :c why?  
**Krystal Jung (20:22):** eh, should probably stop putting off that homework  
**Luna Park (20:22):** o lol :D  
**Krystal Jung (20:22):** talk to you tomorrow!  
**Luna Park (20:23):** u’ll be online? ^^  
**Krystal Jung (20:23):** in school, silly  
**Luna Park (20:23):** oh, right /)_(\ bye!!!

Five minutes later, Krystal was wanting to talk to Luna again and berated herself for going offline. But getting back on would make her look stupid and indecisive, so she didn’t.

-

Krystal had successfully pinpointed all the times she saw Luna on a normal school day: Math, lunch (if she tried), before English, after English, and for about five seconds when classes were let out and Krystal was on her way out the school to walk home. Luna was usually running in the opposite direction, as Krystal headed to the doors, and Krystal wondered where she went.

“What do you do after school?” she asked Luna in math one day.

Luna turned and blinked. “Oh,” she said, and blushed because their relationship hadn’t quite reached the stage to be considered friends. Well, Krystal thought that they should, but Luna clearly looked uncomfortable every time.

Then again, that might have something to do with Luna’s whole liking-Krystal thing.

Luna bowed her head as if she was trying to hide her flushed cheeks, which was really not working. Krystal mentally suggested for her to put a book up instead.

“I have, um, women’s ensemble,” she said. “Go on, laugh.”

Krystal stared at her.

“Laugh?”

“Yeah, uh,” said Luna, and then let out a nervous giggle. “Unless, y’know. You don’t want to laugh. Then.”

“Why would I laugh?” asked Krystal.

Luna shrugged, still not looking at her. Shifted her shoulders. Played with her pencil.

As Krystal thought back upon it, Luna usually did this when the conversation was about  _her_ —avoided Krystal’s gaze. It was adorable, but Krystal really did prefer eye contact, you know.

“Hey, up here,” she said, snapping her fingers, and Luna shot her head up to look at her. “C’mon, tell me why I’d laugh, or something,” said Krystal. “There’s nothing wrong with women’s choir or whatever.”

Luna’s cheeks probably got darker, or, if Krystal touched them, had gotten warmer. Krystal could almost imagine the feel of her smooth skin against her palm.

“Thanks,” Luna muttered. “I just—I thought you might think it was creepy. Or. Something.”

“Nah, it’s not creepy. You know what’s creepy? Your boyfriend creeping on your Facebook profile page to make sure you weren’t talking to other guys, or something.” Krystal rolled her eyes.

Luna’s own eyes widened. “What? Your boyfriend does that?”

“Yeah.” He’d been doing it for a while now, and Krystal had confronted him about it about a month ago, but he’d insisted it was because he loved her. Krystal kind of had doubts about that, especially since he’d used the word  _love_ , which he  _never_  used, but he actually wasn’t actively doing anything about her talking to other guys aside from like, a casual mention or something. And anyways, Krystal talked to more girls than she did guys. But she hadn’t told any of her friends about it because she was afraid they might overreact, or something.

Luna didn’t overreact, which made Krystal think, yeah, if she were to tell anyone (which she did), she'd tell--and told--Luna. Luna didn’t know her well enough, but she was nice and Krystal knew she could trust her. There was something about her telling Krystal that she liked her and wanting to be Krystal’s friend that made Krystal comfortable.

“That _is_  creepy,” Luna agreed. Then, something that Krystal didn’t expect, “Why don’t you break up with him, then?’

“What? Break up with him? Why would I break up with him?” asked Krystal, bewildered.

Luna shrugged.

“I don’t… it seems like stalking. Which isn’t really good…”

“It’s not—” started Krystal, and then stopped. Well. To an extent, it  _was_  kinda stalking.

“He’s not hurting me,” she said instead.

“He could,” said Luna. Then, blushing and waving her hand, she said, “Never mind. You don’t have to listen to me. You, um,” she said, and then let out a cough that didn’t sound like a cough. “You remember about me and… liking you, right?”

“Right, yeah,” said Krystal, furrowing her eyebrows. “What does that have to do with anything?”

Luna shook her head. She was doing that staring-at-her-desk-and-avoiding-looking-at-Krystal thing again. “Nothing,” she said.

-

So Krystal broke up with her boyfriend on Wednesday.

It was sort of on a date (well, could it be called a date? Usually he just came over with his car and knowing smile and said, “Let’s go out,” and they’d get lunch and make out behind movie theaters or something. All very cliche and making Krystal feel like a  _real_  teenager) when he had his tongue practically down her throat—not literally, because ew, he’d have to have a freakishly long tongue for that to be possible—when she broke away and said, “I don’t think we should be seeing each other anymore.”

“I—what?” He blinked at her.

Krystal shrugged. “I just. Don’t think we should date anymore?”

“What? Why?” he asked. “Is there another guy? Was it the one who asked you about Chemistry homework on Monday? Because I swear to god, if it is, I’m gonna  _kill_  him—”

“No, no, calm down.” She put a hand against his chest. “I guess I just don’t like you anymore,” she confessed, and then looked up in thought. She didn’t even know if she liked him in the first place. He’d asked her out the last day of last school year and she’d said yes because, well, why not? and that was why they were dating.

She remembered that when she’d told Sulli this, Sulli had rolled her eyes and muttered, _“typical Krystal”_  and then someone near them had said  _“end of this year”_  and Sulli had said _“before winter break.”_

Well. It was only October, right now.

“But,” said her boyfriend—ex-boyfriend, looking hurt. Or at least, pouting. “I got you a birthday present for next week,” he said.

“Sorry,” said Krystal, although she didn’t feel it. She tried to, though. “You don’t have to give it to me, then?”

“What did I do wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she said. “You’ll probably find a nice girl who’ll like you, later. And who doesn’t mind your Facebook creeping,” she added.

“Was it that? I”ll stop!” He said it in such a manner that Krystal knew that if she gave in, it was unlikely that he would stop creeping.

“No, it’s just a bunch of these things,” said Krystal, trying to be as comforting as she could. “Sorry.”

-

She wasn’t very sorry five minutes later when he was driving off without her.

Krystal grumbled and kicked the ground. “Waste of my time,” she muttered under her breath, although she knew she didn’t really mean it. It was nice, you know, going out to eat and having someone to make out with. Although he’d been only a passable kisser (but she did appreciate the free meals.) Also, she wouldn’t have minded random gifts every now and then, although that was more of a preference, not a requirement.

She called Sulli.

“You dumped him and he drove off without you? What an asshole,” said Sulli. Krystal could hear her hairdryer in the background. “Told you you shouldn’t have dated him.”

“You never said that,” said Krystal.

“I thought it,” said Sulli. “Pick you up in twenty minutes.”

“Fifteen.”

“Fine, but I’ll look like a mess when I do,” said Sulli, and Krystal laughed and said, “You think I care?”

Eighteen minutes later Krystal was in her car and complaining profusely to Sulli, who was driving and not even acting like she was paying attention to her.

“… like, I never liked him, I don’t think I’ve ever liked  _anyone_ , so I don’t see why he’s so angry about it,” said Krystal. “I mean, I never told him that I  _liked_  him, I just dated him, so, I don’t see why he’s making such a big deal out of it.”

“Mm,” said Sulli thoughtfully. “Do you think I should cut all my hair off?”

“I—what?”

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while.” Sulli fluffed the left side of her hair and brought it up with one hand so it looked like half her hair was bobbed. “It’d be cute, right?”

“You’d look like—” Krystal was about to say  _AmberthatonefriendofLuna’s_  and then suddenly she was thinking about Luna and said, “Hey, you remember Luna?”

“Uh?” said Sulli.

“The girl who likes me,” said Krystal.

“Oh,” said Sulli.

“In my math class.”

“Uh.”

“You asked me about her that one time.”

“Um.”

“She’s really into music?”

“Oh.  _Oh,_  right, her!” said Sulli. “What about her?”

“Do you think she’s cute?”

Sulli crinkled her nose. “How am I supposed to know?” she said. “It took you four tries to get me to remember who she is. You think I have an opinion on her cuteness?”

“Right,” said Krystal.

“Why, do you think she’s cute?”

Sulli wasn’t looking at her and her question seemed to be casual, just in passing; but Krystal thought about it. Luna was cute, yeah, definitely. But the kind of cute—the kind of cute Krystal was aiming for was something like “that guy’s so cute I’d totally make out with him” or “you’re so cute I want to stare at your face forever.” Krystal didn’t know for sure—couldn’t say  _no_  to the idea of these thoughts being applied to Luna, although “puppies and rainbows and kittens” did, at the least.

Sulli seemed to forget about the question though, and she and Krystal rode on in silence until Sulli brought up her hair again.

-

The thing was, Krystal had changed her relationship status to  _single_  on Facebook and Luna didn’t Like it, though a number of people did.

Krystal wondered if Luna still liked her.

 **Krystal Jung**  is now single.  
\- 8 people like this.  
**Jessica Jung**  not getting any anymore?  
**Krystal Jung**  hush you   
**Luna Park**  aw :c

And there was that.

Krystal didn’t want to bring it up in school, though, because as nice as it looked when Luna blushed—small shades of pink against her golden skin—Krystal didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable. So she said nothing, although the thought  _does she still like me?_  kept wandering through her mind.

It sort of bothered her, because Krystal liked the idea of a girl liking her. Of Luna liking her.

Regardless. They talked in math and Krystal said, “I still need to hear you sing sometime, you know?”

Luna laughed lightly and said, “Hey, it’s only been four weeks since we’ve become friends. You’ll hear me sing eventually.”

“Four weeks? Really?” Krystal raised her eyebrows.

Luna drew her arms together in her desk, like she was trying to hide or make herself smaller. “Well, two months since I told you that I liked you, and—and then you started talking to me in this class,” she said.

“You’ve been keeping track of the time?” In her mind, a little voice was whispering,  _nope, she still likes me_.

“Well,” said Luna, and then giggled then blushed. Or blushed and then giggled.

Krystal couldn’t stop looking at her either way.

-

The next Tuesday, Krystal got a text that said  _happy bday krystal!! ^o^_

She didn’t need to look at the sender to see who it was.

(She and Luna had exchanged phone numbers only a week ago when Krystal mentioned texting Luna about this awesome musical she’d seen when she was twelve, and Luna mentioned that that was impossible ‘cause, well, Krystal hadn’t had her number at that time. That had been a few days after Luna had mentioned the “four weeks” thing and then shortly after that Krystal realized that Luna had said  _friends_  and, well, yeah, she and Luna were friends now.)

_thanks luna_

_np :))) whtd u get?_

_drama from sis, clothes from fam_

_oo, wht drama?? wht kind of dramas do u lik? :)_

_some like typical girl-boy drama._

Krystal’s fingers hovered over the keyboard.

 _wanna come over and watch sometime?_  she added.

The response came within fifty seconds.

_ok!!! o/_

-

At lunch the next day, Krystal saw Luna’s two friends—and she could remember them by name now, Amber and Victoria—harassing Luna. Violently. If poking her and constantly trying to pass hushed whispers in her ear counted as being violent.

Krystal couldn’t help it, so she excused herself from her friends’ table and wandered over to them. “What’s going on here?” she asked, amused, folding her arms.

Amber and Victoria tore themselves away from Luna and giggled. Luna took the opportunity to swat them both on the arms.

“You are both complete idiots and I hate you for being my friends,” she said, and then smiled up at Krystal innocently. “Hi.”

“Hey,” said Krystal, settling down comfortably next to her. “So. Wanna come over after school today? For the drama,” she added, although Luna didn’t seem to forget.

Luna opened her mouth, but then Victoria reminded her, “She can’t, she has women’s choir.” The look Luna shot her didn’t seem to make Victoria falter, as she just shrugged.

“Sorry,” said Luna, looking disappointed.

“Well, she could always skip,” offered Amber.

“Amber,” said Victoria, “you are  _not_  going to negatively Luna, and she is  _not_  gonna skip—”

“Hey, hey, when have I ever negatively influenced her?” said Amber, putting her hands up.

“There was that time with the pickle—”

“Okay, that was  _one_  time, _one_. What about a second time?”

“How about last year when the chalkboard—”

Krystal tuned them both out, turning to Luna instead. “How about Thursday night?” she asked. “I can’t do Wednesdays, ‘cause I have newspaper meetings.”

“Oh, okay. That works,” said Luna brightly. “I mean, like, I have women’s choir after school then, too, but—evening is all right?”

“Yeah,” said Krystal, and wondered why she didn’t just ask Luna to come over tonight rather than after school, too. But Thursday night was Thursday night, and Krystal was looking forward to it.

And she liked the feeling of looking forward.

-

Thursday night couldn’t have come quicker. Or slower. Krystal wasn’t sure which.

“My house is gross, sorry,” said Krystal. “It’s mostly my cat, ‘cause he’s an idiot and follows us around everywhere and kind of sheds a lot of hair, and then my family in general is really lazy with putting stuff away, so if you find, like, a random CD or power cord just lying around somewhere, just put it on a desk and we’ll find—what’s that?”

Luna had walked into the house and shut the door behind her and Krystal turned around only now to see that a small, bright pink package was in Luna’s hands.

“Your birthday present,” said Luna, and then blushed. “Sorry it’s so late.”

“No—no, it’s fine.” Krystal was surprised. “Just a Facebook wall post would’ve been enough.”

“Well, I wanted to get you, um, something,” said Luna, as Krystal took it. She toed at the ground.

“Dude, my best friend didn’t even get me anything.” That had been a nonverbal mutual agreement she and Sulli had made in the eighth grade.

“I want you to have it,” said Luna. She gestured to the present without looking at her. “Open it.”

“Alright,” said Krystal, and she did. The present was in a white box under the red wrapping paper, and the present was a small string bracelet.

“I, uh, made it for you,” said Luna.

“What’s this, a friendship bracelet?” Krystal chuckled as she took it out. It was a lovely combination of pink and orange and red and yellow and sort of made Krystal think of the sun, of some sort of cheerfulness—maybe the cheerfulness that Luna always emitted.

Luna blushed and she said, “No,” and then said, “I just thought you might be the type to like bracelets.”

The last time Krystal wore a bracelet to wear a bracelet was probably the fourth grade, but she put it on and said, “Thanks, Luna.” It was really pretty anyways, and Krystal admired it as she set the box on the counter.

Luna shifted, smiled. “So, uh,” she said. “Where are we gonna watch—”

“Oh, right, drama!” said Krystal. “Downstairs in the basement—it’s probably the cleanest.”

She led her down and Luna walked with less enthusiasm than she did, maybe a bit curious and taken in by her surroundings. Krystal’s house wasn’t the biggest, but she supposed that the winding staircase leading down was pretty cool. She waited at the bottom as Luna descended.

“It’s already in,” said Krystal. “Wanna start?”

Luna didn’t seem to have any qualms with their surroundings, as she settled her body maybe three centimeters away from Krystal’s on the loveseat. “Sure,” she said.

They watched sort of quietly through the first episode; then Krystal’s mother appeared and said, “Oh, your friend’s already here? Would you like something to eat, girls?”

“No thank you,” said Luna, but Krystal said, “Come on,” and her mom said, “It’s only crackers,” and they were both wearing matching grins so Luna finally gave in and said, “Okay.”

“Only crackers” was “a few popsicles” later, and then “bags of chips” as stray junk food wrappers covered the couch and Krystal was almost leaning into Luna as they watched the drama. It was kind of stupid and predictable, but the actors were hot.

“She’d look better with that guy,” said Luna, pointing toward the sort-of antagonist who was also pining for the love interest.

“Never gonna get with him, though,” said Krystal, rolling her eyes as the protagonist came on to serenade the love interest. Krystal groaned and put her face in the bag of chips. “Ugh, I hate it when people are serenaded in TV shows. It’s just so  _cheesy_.”

“It’s kind of romantic, though,” said Luna.

“ _Cheesy_ ,” Krystal reiterated, and Luna laughed and asked,

“What do you have against cheesy?”

“Nothing! It’s just.” Krystal took one look at the screen, where the guy had one hand out and the other over his heart, and the girl was sitting on a bench, the expression on her face one of  _true love_. ”I mean, can you see that happening in real life?”

“Dramas aren’t real life,” said Luna, seemingly amused.

“Thank god,” said Krystal.

They made it through four episodes on the ten episode box set, and right as they were about to start the fifth, Krystal’s dad came down and said, “Mrs. Park is at the door.”

“Oh, aw, can’t Luna stay over a big longer?” asked Krystal.

“It’s ten o’clock and a school night, dear,” her dad said to her. “I’m sure Luna’s mom won’t approve of it either.”

“She won’t,” said Luna.

Krystal pouted. “Sleepover then? Please?” She tried to look as persuasive as she could to her dad—that is, just pouted even more.

Her dad shook her head. “ _School night_ , Krystal,” he said again. And then to Luna, “Bye Luna,” as she started upstairs and towards the front door.

Krystal saw her off. “Well, see you in school tomorrow then,” she said as Luna started walking away into the night. It kind of disappointed her; she wanted Luna to stand on her porch for a bit longer.

“Yeah,” said Luna, and she was smiling so much that Krystal didn’t think she’d ever seen a person, much less Luna, look this happy before. It made her think of the bracelet that Luna had given her earlier this evening, and  _whoa that was earlier this evening?_

“Bye,” said Luna, snapping Krystal out of her daze, and seconds later, she was gone.

-

“Wow, you could’ve invited  _me_ ,” said Sulli when Krystal told her about it at Economics the next day.

“It was a strictly Krystal-Luna thing,” said Krystal, and Sulli laughed.

“There are Krystal-Luna things now? Don’t tell me that I’m being ditched,” she said.

“Nah, I can’t forget about our quarterly shopping-and-haircuts,” said Krystal, and Sulli smiled and said, “Good.”

-

Krystal invited Luna over again during the weekend, but Luna looked horribly regretful as she said, “I can’t, we’re going up north to visit my relatives.”

“Oh, for what?” asked Krystal.

“My grandfather just passed away,” said Luna.

Something hit Krystal inside, like a golf ball or a small cat, and she said, “Oh, I’m sorry.” Even though she didn’t know what she was sorry for.

Luna smiled. “It’s okay, I didn’t know him that much,” she said. “But yeah, I gotta—”

Amber came into the classroom then and put her hands on both of their desks and said, “So, what’re we talking about here, since I’m always practically the wall every time I’m on Luna’s other side?” She was smiling teasingly though, like she didn’t mean it.

“We were talking about my grandpa’s funeral, Amber,” said Luna, and Krystal was amused at how quickly Amber’s face fell.

“Oh. Um. Geez Luna, sorry,” she said. “May he rest in peace, and—and all that. Like. And. He was probably a great man, you know. Always telling you stories of how he used to be when he was younger, and—”

“Dude,” laughed Krystal, as Luna said, “I wasn’t very close to him, you know.”

“Oh, right. Well, good, ‘cause I never heard you mention him before,” said Amber. “Well, not good that he’s dead, or that you were never close to him—”

“Go to your seat, Amber,” said Krystal, and Amber said, “Right, I’ll do that.”

“Your friends are ridiculous,” Krystal said, watching as Amber sat herself down and then started talking to a kid in front of her who had taken a liking to her a couple of weeks ago. His name was Henry, she thought.

“Amber  _is_. I met her when I was ten, I think,” said Luna. “In chorus. There weren’t enough altos so I volunteered to be one, and Amber was one and I happened to sit next to her.”

“Wow,” said Krystal, awed.

“Yeah,” said Luna. “Like, if I hadn’t sat next to her that day—”

“You volunteered to be an alto?” interrupted Krystal. “Are you a soprano, then?”

Luna blushed. “I’m kind of,” she said. “I prefer to be a soprano, ‘cause high notes are fun and all, but. I can also sing alto, if I want.”

“What’s your vocal range?” Krystal’s eyes went wide.

Luna practically put her face in her hands, but she cupped them instead. “I didn’t know you knew a lot about music,” she said.

“Not that much. I used to do chorus, too, before I moved here,” said Krystal. “Not a fan of the music department, though.”

“Oh, that’s why—” said Luna.

“What?”

“Nothing,” said Luna, covering her cheeks with her fingers again. “I was just remembering—you asked me about it, a while ago.”

“Oh.” Krystal frowned. She couldn’t remember that. Then again, she didn’t exactly try remembering a lot of things.

“Yeah, so,” she said. “Your vocal range?”

“Um,” said Luna. “I don’t know, I think—high F, high G or something? I can do third octave on a really,  _really_  good day.”

“And what about how low?” Krystal was baffled; she could only make it to a high C, barely.

“Uh, I’d have to say low D then. Not as impressive.”

“Are you  _kidding_? You’re like, ridiculous. Amber,” Krystal called out to her. “Are you aware that Luna is ridiculous?”

“The most ridiculous person I’ve ever met,” Amber said cheerfully, before going back to talking to the Henry kid.

“I— _wow_ , why can’t I sing like you?” Krystal said to Luna.

Luna’s hands were covering up her face almost entirely. “You haven’t even heard me sing,” she said. “And—you need to let me hear  _you_  sing, too.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Krystal.

-

“You know,” said Krystal as they waited in line for lunch one day, “you never told me when your birthday was.”

“Oh,” said Luna, fidgeting in her spot. She was shorter than Krystal, which Krystal observed, because Luna looked like she  _should_  be shorter than Krystal, and Krystal liked it. She didn’t bring it up, though, in case Luna would have, like, sensitivities about that kind of stuff, or something. Sulli used to be sensitive about being short in middle school, and then puberty hit in ninth grade and she and Krystal were the same height now.

But, Luna, because though Krystal’s brain was prone to stray, she’d rather not stray when it came to Luna. Luna said, “It’s in the middle of August.”

“What?” Krystal squawked. “But I knew you existed then—”

Luna furrowed her eyebrows. “No you didn’t.”

“Yeah, I did—”

“That was September, and August comes before September,” said Luna.

Krystal’s eyebrows softened. “Oh,” she said. And then felt embarrassed.

She didn’t know whether to feel more or less embarrassed when Luna giggled. “It’s okay,” she said. “They’re both fall months, so—it makes sense for you to get them mixed up.”

Krystal huffed, because Luna couldn’t stop giggling. Yeah, she felt more embarrassed. “August actually isn’t a fall month,” she said. “The first day of fall is in September.”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Luna, and then broke out into full out laughter.

“Why are you laughing so hard?” asked Krystal. But it was kind of making Krystal laugh too, and not just because of that human instinct of not wanting someone to feel awkward so you’re willing to feel awkward with them.

“I don’t—know, I guess it’s ‘cause,” said Luna, and then she brought herself together and smiled. Krystal smiled back.

The kid behind them shouted, “Move, you’re holding up the line!”

-

“Wow, I just—wow,  _really_?”

Krystal looked up to see her ex-boyfriend glaring at her.

“What?” said Krystal, twirling her noodles. She usually preferred rice to noodles but it was fun watching Luna play with her noodles, and then playing with her.

“You’re sitting with these people? This—lesbian, who totally hit on you one time?” He pointed to Luna. “And her geeky friends?” Then to Amber and Victoria.

Sulli, who had gotten to know Amber and Victoria (and Luna, of course, but Krystal always thought of Luna as something that was just  _hers_ ) over the past few days after that time in the lunch line when Krystal had pointed out that she and Luna were friends but didn’t sit together during lunch and should, and Luna had gotten all shy again and said sure and Krystal’s other friends were there too but they weren’t her best friend like Sulli was—

Sulli slammed her palm on the table and said to Krystal’s ex-boyfriend, “Back the fuck off or else I’m going to kick your ass.” And Sulli wasn’t particularly strong or anything, but she sort of had this dangerous aura whenever she was pissed off.

The ex-boyfriend backed the fuck off. “It’s just,” he said, and then looked at Krystal and shook his head. “You’ve lowered yourself, Krystal,” he said, and then marched off.

The entire cafeteria table was quiet.

“I didn’t lower myself,” said Krystal, breaking the silence, beaming at all of them. “I mean, if I did, then  _all_  of us did.” She gesticulated to her non-band geek friends.

They looked at her, like,  _saying that didn’t really help._

“He’s right, you know,” said Luna, and everyone turned to her in surprised. Caught off-guard by the attention, she stammered, “Well I mean… you guys  _are_  the cool kids, and we’re the sort of… awkward music geeks.”

“Luna, you make up the awkward portion. The rest of us are just band geeks,” Amber corrected.

Sulli sighed and put her hands on the table again, although this time not out of anger. “You guys, life isn’t made up of music geeks and cool kids,” she said. “I mean, yeah, high school might be, but it actually doesn’t  _mean_  anything.”

“You guys are so much cooler than us, though,” said Luna wistfully.

“If by cool you mean that we dress like we’re rich and aren’t afraid to talk to anyone and look like we should have every girl and guy pining over us, then sure,” said Sulli. “But—”

“I  _do_  have every girl and guy pining over me,” said one of their friends.

“Shut it, Key,” said Krystal off-handedly. “Go on, Sulli.”

Sulli blinked at her. “I’m not making some speech or anything. I’m just saying. We’re kids, we’re stupid, and we should enjoy it and not really take anything seriously.”

Victoria tapped her chopsticks against the table and then pointed them at Sulli. “I like you,” she said. “I like you a lot.”

Sulli smiled a little to herself. “Well thank you,” she said, tossing her hair back, and then glaring at it. “Ugh, I really wanna chop all this off. Like yours,” she said to Amber. “I really like yours.”

“Oh, no, this was for a thing I did in elementary school ‘cause Victoria—I just got used to it and kept it,” said Amber.

“Well, it looks nice,” said Sulli. “You  _have_  to tell me where you got it.”

The two of them proceeded to talk about hair, with Victoria interjecting every once in a while, and Krystal smiled at them. This was something she wouldn’t have predicted in September.

“Our friends are getting along really well, aren’t they?” she said, turning to Luna, and Luna had her head bowed and was poking at her noodles.

“You know, I know Sulli’s right,” she said in a small voice. “But I can’t help—” She looked up at Krystal. “You’re so  _confident_ , and like. Awesome at everything.”

“I’m not.” For a change, Krystal could feel a blush of her own coming on.

“You are,” said Luna insistently. “I don’t even want to  _be_  you, I just—sometimes I don’t know how to be around you.” Then she turned pink and covered her mouth and mumbled, “I said that aloud, didn’t I?”

Krystal was pretty embarrassed herself and Luna said, “Sorry,” and Krystal said, “No, it’s okay, I just—I don’t know how to respond to that.” And then, feeling a little more confident than usual (which wasn’t really all that much, really), she asked, “You still like me?”

Luna resembled that of a cherry, or maybe that bright pink bud before a tulip bloomed. “Um,” she said, and her chin gave the smallest of nods, because it wasn’t even her whole head that was doing the motion.

“Okay,” said Krystal. And then, “Well, if it makes you feel any better, I think you’re awesome at everything too.”

“Only singing,” said Luna truthfully.

“Good enough,” said Krystal.

-

Krystal was in her basement, cleaning up because her parents had told her to (as they did every month), and saw the stray box for the drama she and Luna had watched a while ago lying around. Now that she thought about it, it must’ve been, what, two or three weeks since Luna came over that one time? And it had been only one time, and Krystal remembered the both of them agreeing to continue it some other time, so when she was done cleaning, she went for her phone which her mother had taken away before she had started cleaning, and texted Luna.

_hey! remember the drama we were watching a while ago?_

_i rmbr!! ^^ wht abt it?_

Krystal simultaneously wondered if Luna just forgot about vowels, and if Luna always answered her texts within a five minute margin.

_wanna come over sometime in the next week to watch?_

_sure :D whn? i cant do thurs and tues right after school._

_yeah, i know. how about wednesday after my newspaper meeting? we’re almost done the issue so i don’t think there’s much for me to do._

_ok ^^ wht do u do 4 newspaper, btw?_

_oh, i just edit some articles and help format it. it’s not really a big deal._

_yeah it is!!!! i think ill buy 1 so i can see ur name on the staff list ^o^_

Krystal rolled her eyes.

_haha, okay. see you at school tomorrow._

Krystal was also the one who usually ended their texting conversations. She didn’t know why; it was like after she said something that could sound remotely goodbye-ish, Luna just stopped the texts from coming. Which was weird since she always seemed so eager to text her  _while_ they were texting. It was like she didn’t want to bother Krystal with texts anymore, even though Krystal wouldn’t be bothered. Oh, well.

Krystal also wasn’t sure why Luna had been making a deal out of her being on the newspaper, but she guessed it was sort of in the same way Krystal made a deal out of Luna being an awesome singer. Though Luna was actually awesome, while Krystal was on the paper to pass time and to put something on college applications. Sometimes Krystal wished she were talented like Luna.

-

Neither of them mentioned the drama-watching on Monday or Tuesday; then Wednesday in English, Krystal said to Sulli, “So I’m hanging out with Luna after school today.”

“Oh, what are you guys gonna do?” Sulli didn’t even seen bothered; she was busy filing her nails.

Krystal wanted to hug her, because Sulli wasn’t like her weird ex-boyfriend who would’ve gotten stupidly jealous if Luna was a guy. Actually, now that she thought about it, she didn’t really know why she dated him, anyways. They should’ve broken up earlier than they did.

“Eh, watch the drama like we did last time,” said Krystal.

“Sounds fun,” Sulli put her nail filer down. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Krystal raised an eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked.

“I dunno,” said Sulli, shrugging. “It just sounds like a date, what you guys are doing. I’m only teasing,” she added when Krystal opened up her mouth to defend herself. “Well, sort of.”

“Yeah, well—” started Krystal.

“Also, don’t give me anything that sounds like ‘no homo,’” Sulli added, “‘cause Luna actually  _is_ a homo. Or something like that. So. Your argument is invalid.”

“I don’t know why I’m friends with you,” Krystal grumbled, and Sulli just said, in a chipper tone, “Because you need me!”

Amber and Victoria were harassing Luna at lunch, which they hadn’t done for the past few weeks; Krystal thought that maybe it had something to do with their not-date—not date, just hanging out—this afternoon. When Krystal came over, Victoria leaned in to whisper something into Luna’s ear, and Luna muttered, “Go  _away_ ,” and blushed possibly five shades of red, three of which Krystal didn’t know existed.

“Hey, pretty people,” said Sulli from beside Krystal, and they sat down to join them. Amber stopped poking Luna’s side (and Luna wasn’t ticklish—it seemed to be just a bothering thing) and Victoria whispered in Luna’s ear again.

“ _Stop_.” Luna pushed Victoria away, and Victoria only giggled.

“What’s this about?” asked Sulli, looking between the three of them.

“Nothing,” said Luna. “They’re just being—stupid, as always.”

“Mm, the best friends are always stupid,” Victoria said from the side.

Luna whacked her on the arm, and Victoria giggled again.

“ _Stupid_ ,” Luna said again, and looked at Krystal and Sulli apologetically.

“Well, so,” said Krystal, pushing the conversation along. “I have newspaper meetings on the west side of the third floor. You know, the one next to the bathroom and the chemistry lab? So you can wait outside of there for me after school.”

“Okay,” said Luna brightly.

“It won’t take too long. Twenty minutes, tops. We just need to do a little bit of finishing,” said Krystal.

“And then I’ll get a copy,” said Luna.

Krystal rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to. There’s nothing really interesting in the paper—only, like, top students and events and sports and boring stuff like that.”

“That’s hardly boring,” said Luna. “But I’m getting one anyways, whether you want me to or not.”

It wasn’t that Krystal didn’t want Luna to read the paper. But Luna looked like she was ready to jump off cliffs to get a copy, and Krystal remembered her text saying  _i think ill buy 1 so i can see ur name on the staff list ^o^_ and, well, it kind of made Krystal happy that Luna might want one just to see Krystal’s name.

-

So Krystal said good-bye to the newspaper staff later that afternoon without so much of a glance backwards, and closed the door behind her as she met Luna, who was waiting outside.

Luna looked surprised. “That was only ten minutes.”

Krystal shrugged. “They didn’t really need me, I guess,” she said, although really she didn’t want to keep Luna waiting: Luna had been only on her phone, and Krystal suspected that she would be bored. Anyways, the staff had other people on the team to help with the formatting so Krystal would’ve ended up being just an extra hand, or something.

“You sure?” Luna asked anyways, and Krystal nodded, turning back around so they could start walking.

“I’m fine,” she said, and they headed out the school and toward Krystal’s house.

Her house was only a twenty minute walk from the school and it was a pretty awkward walk, with Luna. Krystal didn’t know what to say but Luna looked too nervous to start a conversation, so Krystal said something stupid, like, “It’s nice out today,” and Luna made an amiable noise of agreement and then Krystal was berating herself in her head like  _stupid, who the hell talks about the weather nowadays?_  and  _at least be more interesting, you dumbass._

“Uh,” she said to Luna. “What do you think’s gonna happen next, in the drama?”

“Oh,” said Luna, “I don’t know. I really have no idea.” She giggled a bit, still sounding nervous.

“I kinda hope that the girl and that evil guy hook up on the side,” said Krystal. “Like. Geez, who wouldn’t want to bang that?”

“I dunno, me maybe,” said Luna, and then she turned a bright shade of pink and said, “Forget that I said that.”

“Oh,” said Krystal, and then paused. “Oh, right, you’re, um. Are you gay?” she asked, finally.

“Well,” said Luna, and Krystal thought she might say something like,  _well, I like you_. “Well, yeah, I thought you knew,” she mumbled instead.

“No, no, I was just—for confirmation and stuff, you know,” said Krystal. “I mean, you could’ve been bi.”

“Right,” said Luna, and let out a little chuckle. Still seemed uncomfortable.

“And, hey,” said Krystal, putting an arm around her—it was easy, because Luna’s height reached only her eyebrow. “Who said I was talking about the dude? Like, the chick’s pretty good-looking too, isn’t she? Wouldn’t you want to bang that?”

Luna looked up at her and seemed confused at first, as if she didn’t know if Krystal was joking or not—then there was this awkward moment when she might’ve thought Krystal’s question was rhetorical. But only a minute passed and Luna said, “Sure,” and Krystal laughed and said, “See? There we go.”

It turned out that the girl love interest  _didn’t_  hook up with the evil dude on the side, much to Krystal’s chagrin. They watched through two episodes where the protagonist was trying to woo over the love interest while chasing after the evil guy, and after the end of the second one, Krystal threw the remote down as the DVD directed them to the main page and said, “This is a  _ridiculous_ drama.”

“All dramas are ridiculous,” said Luna.

“You got that right,” said Krystal, and then sighed. “We really should continue though. I still kinda wanna see how it ends.”

“Yeah,” said Luna, as Krystal toyed with the remote, not really intending to go to the  _Select an episode_  screen any time in the next five minutes.

They sat there, watching as the theme song played through the DVD menu, and Luna asked, out of nowhere,

“Um, Krystal? Why did you and your boyfriend break up, like. A couple months ago?”

Krystal glanced at her. Luna had her legs curled into her, and was staring at her toes. Krystal fought to look away from all of Luna and to just her eyes.

“‘Cause he was creepy, and I didn’t like him anymore. Well, I don’t think I liked him in the first place,” she added. “But, y’know. Once you’re around someone so much, you get tired of them.” And then, hastily, “But I’m not tired of you yet. I mean, I don’t think I’ll get tired of you at all.”

“It’s okay,” said Luna, and she was smiling but Krystal thought that maybe her words bugged her.

“No, Luna, I’m not going to get tired of you! That’s not what I meant. I mean, I’m not even tired of Sulli and I knew her longer than I knew my ex-boyfriend. It’s.” Krystal sighed. “I was just tired of _him_ , ‘cause he was my boyfriend and he was kind of a  _boy_  and I didn’t think there was—it wasn’t that special,” she said.

“Okay,” said Luna.

“I’m not going to get tired of you, don’t worry,” said Krystal. “Ever. I really mean it. Ever.”

“Okay,” Luna said for the third time, but her smile looked genuine now and Krystal thought that she might’ve gotten to her.

“Why’re you asking, anyways?” Krystal asked. “‘Cause like, yeah, it happened a couple of months ago.”

Luna toed at the couch. “I was just wondering,” she said. “It seemed sudden, I thought maybe _he_  broke up with  _you_  and you just didn’t—well, I mean, you seemed fine about it, so I didn’t know,” she broke off with a mumble.

“Because _I_  broke up with  _him_ ,” said Krystal.

“Yeah.” Luna nodded. “And just. I guess it seemed kinda sudden? I don’t know,” and she promptly clamped her lips shut, as if she were afraid that something she didn’t mean to say would spill out.

“You know,” said Krystal. “I was wondering why you’d made that little frowny emoticon thing on Facebook when my relationship status had changed.”

“You remember that?” Luna’s eyes went wide.

“Yeah, well,” said Krystal, and then was surprised at herself, because wasn’t that weird? Krystal never remembered little details, select events that happened in her life regardless if they would be deemed important or not—but Luna’s emoticon was even littler than littler, and probably not important at all.

Krystal mentally shook her head to snap herself out of it, and then continued, “Like, you like me, don’t you?”

After she said it she felt like she’d just revealed the metaphorical elephant in the room, and there was a pregnant pause as Luna seemed to freeze, if only for a millisecond, at the acknowledgement. Then Luna said, her face practically in her knees and her voice nearly muffled as she avoided looking at Krystal, “Well, yeah, but I-I didn’t want you to be, um, unhappy or anything, and like, I didn’t know that you were the one who broke up with him, so, um, I just thought that it was a, um, a bad thing. Yeah.”

“Oh,” said Krystal, relatively stunned at this. “Okay.”

“Yeah,” Luna said again, and this time she really did put her face in her knees.

Krystal didn’t know if she should comfort Luna—if she should do anything for Luna at all, or if Luna would prefer if they pretended this conversation didn’t happen; so Krystal took a deep breath and said, “Well, let’s get back to watching the drama,” and Luna unentangled herself from her arms and legs and Krystal clicked  _“Watch next episode”_  on the television and they watched two more episodes until Krystal’s dad told them that Luna’s mom was at the door.

“But it ended on a  _cliffhanger_!” said Krystal, because it did; the evil guy had just shot the love interest in the shoulder.

“Both you girls have homework. It’s Wednesday,” said her dad. And then to Luna, “Your mom’s waiting on the front porch.”

“Oh, I should really go then,” said Luna, getting up from the couch.

“Okay,” said Krystal, “but next week you are definitely coming over to finish this with me.”

“You could watch it yourself, if you want,” said Luna, but Krystal shook her head.

She remembered what Sulli had said about this being a  _KrystalandLuna_  thing and it was; it really was a  _KrystalandLuna_  thing. “Not without you,” she said, and Luna sort of beamed, and Krystal could see the moon from the window but Luna was glowing even brighter.

“Okay,” she said, and then, “See you at school tomorrow!” Luna took off up the stairs and Krystal slumped on the couch, wishing that next week was tomorrow and that tomorrow was now.

 

-

“Krystal,” said Sulli as she drove to school the next morning. Krystal was half asleep in the passenger seat next to her. “We need to talk about Luna.”

“We do?” Krystal looked over at her sleepily. She could practically kiss Sulli every time Sulli drove them to school, but Sulli usually had before school clubs, leaving Krystal to walk to school alone.

“Yeah.” Sulli parked in the school parking lot.

Krystal yawned. “Well let’s get out before we do,” she said, grabbing her backpack; but Sulli put a hand on her arm and said, “In here.”

“What do we need to talk about?” asked Krystal, raising a tired eyebrow.

“I said, Luna,” said Sulli.

“What about her?”

Sulli huffed. Krystal thought that maybe she was being impatient with Krystal’s tiredness, but somehow that didn’t seem to be the case when Sulli just stared out the car’s front window.

“You know that Luna likes you, right?”

Krystal blinked. “Well yeah,” she said. “She told me, like—that’s how we became friends, basically.” She was randomly jolted back to when she’d asked Luna,  _you like me, don’t you?_ and prevented her cheeks from reddening.

But Sulli said, “Yeah, but do you  _really_  know?”

“How can I really know?” said Krystal. “She likes me, and—well, she likes me. Yeah.”

“Krystal,” said Sulli. “I’ve known you since we were eleven and you’ve never expressed interest in anyone. At  _all_. Sexually or romantically.”

“I had a boy—”

“But you said you didn’t like him! You dated him only ‘cause he liked you,” said Sulli. “Have you really not liked anyone? Ever?”

Krystal was silent. Well, she didn’t know—what was it supposed to feel like? Was there something in your brain that went,  _oh, I like that person_. She just said, “I don’t know,” and Sulli let out an exasperated sigh and banged her hands on the steering wheel.

Krystal nearly jumped, but Sulli said, “You probably don’t get it, then. Luna  _really likes_  you, Krystal, and now you’ve been like—all nice and friendly to her. But just as her  _friend_. Don’t you think that’s kind of—insensitive?”

“I’m not insensitive,” said Krystal, hurt. “I think she’s cool and I want to be friends with her, and that’s it—”

“Yeah, and I know you and you have stupidly good intentions when it comes to things like this,” said Sulli. “But what about  _her_? She wants something  _more_  than friends, you know.”

Krystal stared at her, fully awake now.

“You’ve been talking to her friends, haven’t you.”

“Victoria is very informative and Amber always listens when Luna rattles on about how awesome you are, apparently,” said Sulli, looking into her rearview mirror and brushing off an eyelash. “I wouldn’t say you’re that awesome, but—”

“Sulli,” said Krystal, and her best friend turned to her and grinned.

“I digress, though,” said Sulli. “Krystal, I know you’re being nice. I know  _you_. But you don’t know Luna, and you gotta think about her.”

“I _do_ ,” Krystal insisted.

“As a friend. And she thinks about you as—something more,” said Sulli. “ _Do_  something about it, at least. She hangs onto your every word like a little puppy. It’s adorable, but kind of sad when you don’t even realize how much she adores you.”

-

So Krystal decided to do that. To listen to Sulli.

She wasn’t quite sure how but she thought that she and Luna should  _talk_  about it, at least, Luna liking her. That evening, because during the day she’d been too busy contemplating what to do, she got onto her computer and saw that Luna was online, and that was better because she could expect a more immediate response.

 **Krystal Jung (18:02):**  hey  
**Krystal Jung (18:02):** luna  
**Luna Park (18:02):**  oh, hi krystal ^^  
**Luna Park (18:03):** whats upp  
**Krystal Jung (18:03):** when’s the next time you’re free?  
**Krystal Jung (18:03):** i was thinking we could finish the drama sometime soon  
**Luna Park (18:04):** oh ^^  
**Krystal Jung (18:04** ) **:** since we only have two episodes left and all  
**Luna Park (18:05):** umm  
**Luna Park (18:06):** i think im free this weekend? ^^  
**Krystal Jung (18:06):** ok  
**Krystal Jung (18:06):** how’s saturday night sound  
**Krystal Jung (18:06):** wanna do a sleepover too?

Krystal had no idea where that came from.

 **Luna Park (18:06):**  ok!!!! ^-^  
**Luna Park (18:07):**  im rlly looking forward 2 it :DDD  
**Krystal Jung (18:08):** me too  
**Krystal Jung (18:08):** well  
**Krystal Jung (18:08):** see you tomorrow!  
**Luna Park (18:08):** yea, c u 2!! ^^

 _What am I getting myself into?_  Krystal wondered.

-

At this point, Krystal had realized the correlation between Amber and Victoria’s teasing Luna, and Luna’s own interactions with her. She was pretty sure that every time Victoria whispered in Luna’s ear it had something to do with her liking Krystal, and that Amber poked her to get her attention because that’s what friends did when the person they knew you liked walked by. Krystal didn’t know why she didn’t get it earlier.

But she did, now, on Friday, when all the times she saw Luna and one of her friends they would giggle at her. Krystal ignored them, though; Luna seemed to be doing her best to do so, as well.

When walking out of the English classroom with Sulli, a thought struck Krystal. “When do you even talk to Amber and Victoria without me or Luna around, anyways?” she asked Sulli.

Sulli shrugged. “I have math with Victoria and we’ve been partnering up lately. And I talk to Amber at lunch sometimes, you know.”

“Oh,” said Krystal, because usually she and Luna were talking about something or other. Krystal had always assumed that their friends listened to their conversations and took part occasionally, but she never really paid much attention to them. Just to Luna.

“By the way, this weekend?” said Sulli, pointing her pencil at her. “Don’t screw things up.”

“What—I don’t screw things up!” said Krystal as Sulli headed away from her, to her next class.

“Yeah, yeah.” Sulli didn’t look behind.

Krystal huffed and went in the opposite direction, because she had history next.

She’d just entered the classroom when her cellphone vibrated in her pocket. Taking it out, she made her way to her seat and then opened the text. It was from Luna.

_hey ^^ srry 2 bother u but iwas wonderin when ur newspper comes out. i 4got to ask u ysterdy, srry!! ^^;;_

Krystal had the weird urge to hug the text message. Which was, yeah, impossible.

_oh, it comes out in like, a week. next next monday i think._

_ok!!! ill rmbr 2 get a copy :)_

Krystal couldn’t reply to that because class started.

-

“Last two episodes!” said Krystal as she flung her backpack on the couch. Luna was behind her, holding onto her own backpack straps and looking a bit out of place.

“C’mon, put your backpack on the floor or something and join me,” said Krystal, and then realized that she took up one half of the loveseat and her backpack took up the other so she shoved her bag to the ground.

“Okay,” said Luna, setting her bag by her feet. Krystal grabbed the remote and turned the TV and DVD on, and they finished the drama, Krystal judging every ridiculous thing that happened.

“Wow,  _that_  was a stupid drama,” said Krystal, sighing as the credits for the last episode rolled on the screen. “I should call my sister sometime and tell her that she sent me a useless birthday present.”

Luna chuckled and said, “Yeah, it was kinda dumb.”

“Yeah, like,” said Krystal, turning around to face her, “the evil guy dies at the end because he falls off a cliff? What the hell was  _that_? And like, if I had a motorcycle, I wouldn’t bring it to the edge of a cliff so that I die to my impending doom  _because of a freaking motorcycle_? And like. No post-death traumas? The girl and the guy just get together and live happily ever after? Geez.”

“It’s TV,” said Luna.

“It’s stupid. TV is stupid.”

“It can be,” Luna agreed. She was grinning, like she was trying to hold back laughter, and Krystal couldn’t help smiling too and said, “What?”

“I don’t—you’re funny,” said Luna, and tucked her chin into her shoulder and didn’t meet Krystal’s eyes. Her mouth was still curved into that small smile, though.

Krystal rolled her eyes. “Well, I mean,” she said, and then the first thing came to mind, “even though it was dumb, I didn’t mind. Like. Watching it with you. ‘Cause that’s nice.”

Luna blushed visibly and played with her fingers. Krystal said, “And look, I’m still wearing  _your_  birthday present, ‘cause you’re not like my sister and give me useless things. Even though I don’t really wear bracelets,” she added offhandedly, “but.”

“I’m really,” said Luna, taking a deep breath. And then, “Thanks.”

“You don’t really have anything to thank me for,” said Krystal.

But seeing Luna’s still shy, bashful face reminded Krystal partially of why she had invited Luna here, other than just to watch the drama. She took a deep breath and folded her legs.

“Y’know, Luna, um,” she said. “Sulli was talking to me the other day.”

“Yeah?” Luna looked up at her, like she expected Krystal to say something about one of Sulli’s rants on weird hairstyles or a random piece of gossip the both of them would pretend to be interested in.

“Um,” said Krystal, feeling nervous around Luna for the first time. “We were kind of, um. Talking about you? And like. How you like me. And, um, Like.” She looked up and her cheeks burned and her eyes might’ve watered so she looked back down and didn’t let herself see Luna’s expression. “Well, do you still like me?” she asked. _Just to make sure_ , she told herself.

Luna chuckled, like she thought this was a prank or something. “I haven’t told you that I’ve stopped liking you,” she said.

“Um,” said Krystal, and looked up at her. Grabbed Luna by the shoulder and kissed her.

It was weird and sort of like kissing her ex-boyfriend, except Luna didn’t smell like sweat and boy—she sort of smelled like shampoo, and sweet. Sweet wasn’t a smell but that was Luna. She stopped and looked at Luna.

Luna seemed frozen in shock. And then,

“Why did you do that?”

“I,” said Krystal. “I don’t know? I.” Shrugged. “I mean, honestly, I’ve never, like,  _liked_  anyone before, so. You. I’m not taking advantage of you,” she was hasty to add, because that’s what it sounded like, “I just wanted to see if there was… anything.”

“Was there?” Luna barely met her gaze, peeked out from under her eyelashes.

Krystal exhaled deeply. “Truthfully no, but,” she said, when she swore to god that she saw Luna deflate for a millisecond, “I like being with you. Just like this. ‘Cause it’s not just like,  _being_ , the way it is with everyone else. I just like it. And I like this bracelet you gave me, and I really have no idea why. Really. They’re not even my favorite colors.” She played with the bracelet. “I like your friends being with my friends, because they’re your friends and my friends. I really want to hear you sing. And, um,” she said, because this was sounding really ridiculous now, “I like your blond hair.”

Luna’s cheeks were dark red and she let out a nervous giggle—a  _really_  nervous giggle—and said, “You like my blond hair?”

“Yeah, well, it’s,” said Krystal, “it’s different, it looks nice. You look nice, with it.”

“Um,” said Luna. “Can we kiss again? I mean. Can I kiss you this time?”

“Oh,” said Krystal, because she was surprised. But it was Luna. And Krystal liked kissing, wouldn’t have been opposed to it if Luna had asked her like, a week ago. Or a month ago. Or maybe even while she’d been dating her ex-boyfriend. “Go ahead,” she said, and Luna did.

It was different this time, maybe because Luna was the one taking control. Luna grabbed her shoulder like Krystal had done to her and pressed their lips together, sort of how like one would drink water or flip to their favorite channel on the television. Krystal held onto Luna then and Luna’s mouth was small and soft and definitely felt like she wasn’t sure of what she was doing, so Krystal adjusted her body so that Luna was practically in her lap and held Luna’s head and went in deeper, sucked in gently that Luna almost pulled away.

She didn’t, though, and that was what made Krystal keep going. Because Luna was just all sorts of—it was like biting into something soft with an even softer filling, cool and refreshing and exploding in Krystal’s mouth. At some point she parted her lips and persuaded Luna’s open, and then it was clear that Luna couldn’t take it anymore as she broke apart and practically sat on Krystal’s knees—when had Krystal spread her legs out?

“Sorry, sorry,” said Luna, when Krystal winced at the weight. “I,” said Luna, then, “ _wow_.”

“I made out a lot with my boyfriend,” Krystal confessed. “But,” she said thoughtfully, recalling her boyfriend’s too eager tongue and the weird, not-as-sweet taste he had, “I liked that better.”

“I,” said Luna. “I really liked that. Um. That was my second kiss, so.” Color was blooming on her cheeks again, even though she looked plenty flushed from the kissing.

“Oh.” Krystal’s eyes widened. “Oh, was that too fast for you—should we go slow next time, or—”

“Next time, I,” said Luna. Stared at her. “You didn’t—you don’t mind—you  _like_  me?”

That was probably the most forward Luna had ever been with Krystal and nearly instinctively Krystal said, “Yes.” But, “Well, I don’t—I haven’t thought about it, ‘cause of the whole, y’know, don’t-think-I’ve-ever-liked-anyone-before thing. I think I could?” And then when Luna beamed despite the vague response, Krystal thought,  _yeah, I definitely could._

“Okay,” said Luna. “As long as—that kissing thing, we can do more of it. ‘Cause I really like it.” She tucked her hands under her knees and blushed.

Krystal brought her close and grinned in Luna’s face. “Great, ‘cause so do I.”

-

Krystal’s palms were gently pressing against Luna’s soft breasts—geez, why didn’t anyone ever tell her about the awesomeness of other girls’ boobs before?—when her father called from upstairs, “Girls, it’s time to go to sleep!”

“Aw,” said Krystal as Luna pulled back. “I need to take a shower, I feel gross.”

“So do I,” said Luna.

A smile crept onto Krystal’s face. “Want to take one together?”

“I—isn’t that a bit too,” said Luna.

“Oh, c’mon, we’re both girls,” said Krystal. And when Luna continued to look doubtful, “Don’t want me to see your naked body?”

“Well,” said Luna. “I mean, I like you and all, but, like—”

“There’s nothing wrong with nakedness, Luna,” said Krystal. She laughed. “It’s not like we’re gonna have  _sex_.”

Luna practically squeaked. “Of course not!” she said.

“Yeah, well then?” said Krystal. “You’re comfortable with sticking your tongue in my mouth, so nothing wrong with being naked around me.”

“What does kissing have anything to do with being naked?” asked Luna.

“It doesn’t, but that’s not my point,” said Krystal. “C’mon, aren’t you comfortable with your own body? I’m comfortable with mine. I don’t mind if you see me naked.” She wiggled her hips.

Luna giggled again and said, “I don’t really—I mean, it’s kind of like, um, sex—”

“Being naked is not like having sex,” said Krystal, pressing back her laughter. “It’s not a big deal. We’re just going to see each other’s boobs, and—other stuff. Only seeing. Well, unless, like—”

“Only seeing,” said Luna firmly, and Krystal just grinned.

Which was how they were standing in Krystal’s shower together, because the bathroom was in her room so her parents didn’t know what was going on. Krystal had shampoo in her fingers and was massaging Luna’s scalp, and Luna had her eyes closed and Krystal sort of wished she’d tilt her head back so Luna would—

“See? Being naked is just being naked.” Krystal looked down Luna’s body as she continued rubbing the shampoo in her hair. Luna had a cute little innie bellybutton and her skin was still that color medium between pale and tan with a tint of gold, which sounded gross and cheesy but with Luna it wasn’t; it was just true. There were some dark hairs between her thighs and Krystal told herself to look away before she stared too long; Luna’s thighs were lush and smooth and Krystal kind of wanted to hold them, to squeeze them.

She finished shampooing Luna’s hair.

“Your turn,” she said to Luna, and Luna said, “Well, technically, it’s  _yours_ , since it’s your turn to get washed,” and Krystal said, “Yeah, yeah, okay.”

Luna got the shampoo this time and Krystal craned her head back as Luna rubbed her fingers in her hair. Luna said, “I think if you turn around, I can reach better.”

Krystal said, “Okay,” and did, and then smirked to herself and, “Feel free to stare at my ass.”

“I’m not!” said Luna in a voice that made Krystal think,  _she so is_. She didn’t mind; she’d admired Luna’s body, and Luna had every right to admire hers.

Through the sounds of the shower water, Luna asked in a quiet voice, “So… are we dating now?”

“Are we?” Krystal’s eyes were still closed. She murmured, “Yeah, I guess,” and Luna’s hands might’ve gone gentler then.

“Oh,” said Luna. “Okay.”

“You don’t mind, right?” said Krystal, though more focused on the way Luna reached that back part of her scalp that she could never reach.

“Why would I mind?” said Luna. “I mean, I’ve liked you since—forever.” There was a pause and Krystal envisioned her swallowing. “And now I’m here naked in your shower with you and washing your hair and we’re having this conversation.”

“I’m assuming that’s a yes, then,” said Krystal, and Luna said, “Done,” and she turned back around.

“Have you ever had sex before?” asked Luna. Her eyes were wide, worrying.

Krystal chuckled. “Don’t worry, we don’t have to go fast at all,” she said. “And no, I haven’t.”

“Okay.” Luna nodded. “I mean, I think I’ll like it and it’ll be great, but—I like just this kissing stuff, first.”

“We don’t even have to get as far as sex, if you want,” said Krystal.

“Oh, no, no, I wouldn’t mind getting to sex—unless, I mean, you don’t want to, then that’s cool too,” Luna said hastily.

Krystal giggled and pressed her forehead against Luna’s. Their shampooed heads meshed together and Krystal thought that a small thing of soap fell near Luna’s eye, so she wiped it away.

“I’m ready for whatever you’re ready for,” she said, gripping onto Luna’s shoulders, and Luna smiled back. From here, it seemed so small, but—more glowing than ever.

“Me too,” said Luna.

-

_hey! :) coming after school today?_

_omg u used a smiley!!! o:_

Krystal frowned. Then, oh. She did.

_haha, i guess :) so are you coming or what?_

_u bet! ^^_

“You’re grinning at your phone again,” said Sulli from the driver’s seat. “Literally  _grinning_. I don’t even know how else to describe it.”

“Hush, you.” Krystal was focused on her phone, typing out a reply.

“You’ve been so busy texting your new girlfriend all morning that you haven’t even noticed my big change,” said Sulli.

“Oh,” said Krystal, still typing. “Um, nice outfit?”

“Krystal!” said Sulli, and Krystal jerked her head up and said, “Wha— _oh_.”

Because Sulli had chopped her hair off. Literally all of it off. She now looked like a twelve year old boy with a bowl cut.

“What do you think?” Sulli beamed.

Krystal stared at her. It actually didn’t look that bad. Threw her off for a bit, gave her a heart attack, maybe. But not bad.

“It looks nice,” she said. “I like it.”

“Good, because I was gonna punch you if you said you didn’t.” Sulli looked through the rearview mirror at the red light and fluffed her hair. “I really like it. I think it’s cute. Don’t you think it’s cute?”

“Yeah.” Krystal was texting again.

_my sister sent me another drama as an apology present so we can watch that_

_btw sulli got a haircut_ </span>

_oo ok!!! :D wht does her hair look like?_

“Say cheese,” Krystal said absentmindedly, taking a photo of Sulli, and then sent it to Luna before Sulli could even pose.

“Hey!”

_or we don’t have to watch the drama if you want. we can do something else?_

_omg she looks so qt!!! ^o^ n wht else could we do?_

“qt” was now how Krystal was going to describe Luna, in her head. Not just “cute” anymore. “ _qt_.”

Like the way she couldn’t pick up subtle hints.

_like, make out or something? ;)_

Krystal counted to ten.

_i can totally see you blushing right now, you know._

_sht up!!! i am not!!! >.<_, read Luna’s next text, and Krystal knew it was because Luna totally was.

-

Krystal was surprised a couple weeks later when Luna presented her with a small box.

“Christmas present?” she asked, even though she’d asked Luna to come over during winter break already and Luna had said yes.

Luna shook her head. “Just—no, just a thing that I bought you. Just ‘cause.” She folded her gloved hands together and smiled.

Krystal opened the box. It was a necklace this time, not a bracelet, with a dark blue jewel at the end that Krystal didn’t know the name of and she hugged Luna.

“Oh god, I love it,” she said, pulling back. “How—no, don’t tell me how much it cost. It’s  _beautiful_.”

“Thanks,” said Luna, beaming. “I thought you might like it.”

Honestly, even if Luna had gotten her a pair of brown and orange socks, Krystal would’ve still loved them. Krystal hugged her again.

“I just, thank you so much,” she said. “Should I get you something too? I should get you something, shouldn’t I? Yeah, I think I’ll get you something,” she concluded, even though Luna had interrupted her halfway to say, “No, don’t worry about it.”

“You’re not going to remember to, anyways,” said Luna.

“That… might be true,” said Krystal. “But it’s the thought that counts, right? This is just— _amazing_ , Luna, that’s what you are.” She put it around her neck and fastened it in the back.

“No, you are, and that’s why I got it for you,” said Luna, and then Krystal looked at her with wide eyes as if Luna had just said “the l word” and Luna blushed.

“I-I mean,” she stammered. “Just. You’re enough, don’t worry about me. ‘Cause. You’re enough.”

Krystal grabbed her face with her mittens and kissed her beneath the snow and on her front porch. Winter had only started, but Krystal felt like spring was starting in her chest.

-

Winter break came and went and Krystal and Luna spent a far too much amount of time around each other. They did things like read the copy of the school newspaper Luna had gotten (which Luna did admit was as boring as Krystal had earlier described it), and then watched bad dramas and then later American romcoms with Korean subtitles, ate chips and Krystal's mom's cooking and threw crackers at the television screen. Luna always curled up into Krystal like Krystal was some big fluffy blanket and Krystal didn't mind at all.

Neither of them were happy when school started again (well,  _no one_  was); but then on a Tuesday that Krystal had forgotten about she asked Luna over and Luna said, “No, I have women’s choir, remember?”

“Oh,” said Krystal. “You know, I still haven’t heard you sing.”

“It’s not necessary,” said Luna, blushing.

“Like hell it isn’t!” They were walking to Luna’s physics class, which was out of the way for Krystal and her art class but she didn’t mind. “C’mon, you gotta let me hear you sing, I’m your  _girlfriend_.”

“Shh!” said Luna, quickly covering her mouth, and Krystal grinned.

“You know,” she said, when Luna finally uncovered her, “if people weren’t such assholes, I’d be shouting it down halls.”

“You’re crazy,” said Luna, and Krystal said, “The craziest,” and Luna giggled.

“Okay, you can hear me sing,” she agreed, finally. Krystal fist-pumped the air. “Just come to my practice today after school and you can hear me practice my solo.”

“Oh my god, you have a _solo_? Luna, tell me these things! I told you you’re awesome,” said Krystal.

“I’m,” started Luna, but Krystal put a hand in her face.

“No, nope, I’m not going to hear any excuses,” she said. “You are awesome and that is final. You’re not allowed to argue with me on this, ‘cause I have firsthand experience.”

“I was only gonna say that I’m gonna let you judge that for yourself,” said Luna, amused.

“I don’t need to judge if I already  _know_ ,” said Krystal pointedly.

-

“You,” said Krystal, “I. I’m dating a celebrity.”

“Shut  _up_ ,” Luna said as she came out of the music room.

“You are fuckin’—I don’t even know,” said Krystal. “Wow. I.” She stared at Luna.

“Stop that!” said Luna.

“Can we, like,” said Krystal. “Why didn’t you show something like that to me earlier? Then I would’ve just kissed you on instinct and all this would’ve happened faster.”

Luna blushed, apparently not having a reply to that.

“You are  _amazing_ ,” said Krystal, and then kissed her on the lips without any warning. “Ridiculously so.”

“I don’t,” said Luna, but then seemed to shrug off any modesty and just smiled at Krystal. “I try,” she said, instead.

Krystal kissed her again, in the empty hallway, as the kids and the teachers in the music room thought Luna was just at the bathroom when really Krystal was trying to figure out how much of Luna she could feel up before Luna realized she was getting too distracted.

“You succeed,” said Krystal, rolling Luna’s golden hair between her fingertips.

-

“I don’t know,” Sulli said at lunch a few days later.

“Three months,” said Onew, watching Krystal and Luna. Then, “No, four months. Four and a half months?”

“One month,” said Jonghyun.

“Wow, thanks for the support,” said Krystal.

“ _Forever_ ,” said Amber.

“ _Totally and completely_  forever,” said Victoria. “Irrevocably.”

“Getting married and having kids and a surrogate father.” Amber pointed at Jonghyun. “That’ll be you.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Jonghyun said defiantly, and Amber turned away with a little smile on her face and said, “Nothing.”

“I don’t know,” Sulli said again. “I mean, high school relationships. But then you guys.” She gestured to Krystal and Luna, who were definitely  _not_  holding hands under the table. Except they were.

“Four and a half months?” Onew said again.

“You’re all just wonderful friends,” said Krystal. “Betting on the length of our relationship.”

“It’s how we make a living,” said Key.

“Forever!” Amber said again. “Just you wait, even if you guys, like, stop dating after high school, I bet you’re gonna find each other again and get all stupid and lovey dovey and get back together. Like  _soulmates_.”

“I never pinned you as a romantic, Amber,” said Krystal.

Amber grinned. “My weapon is to surprise.”

“I don’t know either,” said Luna truthfully. But she looked at Krystal and squeezed her hand, and Krystal squeezed back.

“Speaking of,” said Amber, pointing at her with her chopsticks. “We need to talk about something, Krystal.”

“Oh, right,” said Victoria, nudging Amber over so that they were both looking straight at Krystal with serious looks on their faces.

“If you ever—”

“— _ever_ —”

“—hurt Luna—”

“—we’re going to chop your balls off.”

“Like, ten times,” said Victoria.

“Ow,” said Onew. “That must hurt.”

Sulli whacked him in the shoulder. “Girls don’t have balls, dumbass.”

“Figuratively though,” said Amber. “Literally if we could.”

Krystal rolled her eyes. “You guys don’t have to worry about it,” she said. “I would do it myself literally before you guys could even know. I don’t want,” she looked at Luna. “You to get hurt. By me or anyone.”

“I’m not going to,” said Luna, nosing at her cheek.

Amber and Victoria said, “Aww,” and Sulli said, “This is adorable but I think I’m going to puke.”

“I know you’re not gonna let me,” said Luna, leaning against Krystal’s shoulder. “And I’m not gonna let you. Now stop trying to tickle my stomach ‘cause it’s not gonna work.”

Krystal took her fingers out from sneaking up Luna’s shirt immediately. “I wasn’t aiming to tickle,” she said. “I just wanted to touch you.”

“Touch is fine as long as it’s in private,” said Luna.

“Ooh,” said Onew. “What else do you guys do in private?”

They promptly ignored him.

“I don’t know if I ever told you this,” said Krystal as conversation started around them so it was just the two of them, now (like it was), “but I think you’re cute. Always thought. Knew, really.”

Luna rubbed her cheek against Krystal’s shoulder in response, and Krystal laughed.

“Yeah,” said Luna, “okay. I’m glad. And I always thought that I’d just have a passing crush on you, but it’s definitely—I’m glad it’s something more.”

“Me too,” said Krystal, and her hand found Luna’s under the table again. She couldn’t see Luna’s face, but she was sure that if she would, Luna would have one of those dorky smiles on her face every time Krystal kissed her too hard or played with her ankles or tried to make heart-shaped snowballs and fling them at her or said something like  _no, matching Christmas sweaters are gross_ or  _do you think I look like a cat person?_  or  _if I had to choose three things to have on a stranded island, I’d take a boat and a giant bowl of noodles and you._


End file.
